Originally Posted by
shiv666
my tricks involve making your bag look cheap, ugly or flamboyant...
1. avoid buying really fancy luggage, airport crooks already know what "samsonite" is. borrow some old but still study luggage...
2. avoid those cheap combination locks, the ones where you pick 3 digits between 0 to 9...if you are going to use a combi lock, use a dudley (like the ones on a locker)
3. jazz up your luggage to make it stand out, and look more ugly:
-rope it up
-tonnes of duct tape, or get that plastic wrapping/band service that some airports sell
-cheap plastic ribbons tied to the handle to make it stand out...
-give your cheap suitcase a paint job w fabric paint...or put some fabric patches of your favorite music acts on it...
-get suitcases with floral printing on them...
-get tonnes of bumper stickers if its a plastic shell style case...
-make the suitcase look like it belongs to a kid... any barbie or pokemon stickers will do...or borrow your kids luggage if they arent flying with you
do anything to make your bag stand out, theives will most likely avoid bags that belong to broke or broke looking people...and they tend to draw a bit more attention which is the last thing a crook wants...
read this
http://lifehacker.com/5259519/
You are joking, right?
Would you check in to an elegant hotel with a bag covered in bumper stickers? Floral printing? Someone would look eccentric at best--and a potential guest to avoid. All these methods are like dying your hair orange and wearing shabby clothes in Paris or Rome so that a pickpocket would think you were poor or nuts. Forget it. Robbers are opportunists, not logicians or that smart.
I have traveled around the world all my life with practical (and good) luggage. I have never had any bag or any object stolen (even in a bustling railway in India, for example, or in Kabul or Katmandu or Brazil...).
I used to carry jewelry and my favorite shoes and everything needed to look great in Paris or London or New York, etc.
Now, I take chic things--but I always ask myself when packing-'would I be upset if I lost this when traveling' and I don't take my favorites or anything irreplaceable.
I tie a 'twist tie' around the pull rings of the zippers on my bags (hard to untie quickly) and leave it at that.
Good luck with the goofy bag idea.